[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 196 (Wednesday, October 10, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 50857-50859]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21991]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[Docket No. 150121066-5717-02]
RIN 0648-XG534


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna 
Fisheries

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Temporary rule; General category October-November fishery for 
2018; inseason bluefin tuna quota transfer and closure.

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SUMMARY: NMFS transfers 55 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin tuna 
(BFT) quota to the General category October through November 2018 
subquota period (40 mt from the Harpoon category and 15 mt from the 
Reserve category) and closes the General category fishery for large 
medium and giant BFT until the General category reopens on December 1, 
2018. The quota transfer is intended to provide additional fishing 
opportunities based on consideration of the regulatory determination 
criteria regarding inseason adjustments and applies to Atlantic tunas 
General category (commercial) permitted vessels and Atlantic Highly 
Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels 
with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT. 
Given that the adjusted quota is projected to be caught quickly, the 
closure is to prevent overharvest of the adjusted General category 
October through November 2018 BFT subquota.

DATES: The quota transfer is effective October 4, 2018, through 
November 30, 2018. The closure is effective 11:30 p.m., local time, 
October 5, 2018, through November 30, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah McLaughlin or Brad McHale, 978-
281-9260.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implemented under the authority 
of the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.) and 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) governing the harvest of BFT by 
persons and vessels subject to U.S. jurisdiction are found at 50 CFR 
part 635. Section 635.27 subdivides the U.S. BFT quota recommended by 
the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas 
(ICCAT) and as implemented by the United States among the various 
domestic fishing categories, per the allocations established in the 
2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan 
(2006 Consolidated HMS FMP) (71 FR 58058, October 2, 2006), as amended 
by Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP (Amendment 7) (79 FR 
71510, December 2, 2014). NMFS is required under ATCA and the Magnuson-
Stevens Act to provide U.S. fishing vessels with a reasonable 
opportunity to harvest the ICCAT-recommended quota.
    NMFS is required, under regulations at Sec.  635.28(a)(1), to file 
a closure notice for publication with the Office of the Federal 
Register when a BFT quota is reached or is projected to be reached. On 
and after the effective date and time of such notification, for the 
remainder of the fishing year or for a specified period as indicated in 
the notification, retaining, possessing, or landing BFT under that 
quota category is prohibited until the opening of the subsequent quota 
period or until such date as specified in the notice.
    The current baseline General and Reserve category quotas are 466.7 
mt and 24.8 mt, respectively. See Sec.  635.27(a). Each of the General 
category time periods (January, June through August, September, October 
through November, and December) is allocated a ``subquota'' or portion 
of the annual General category quota. Although it is called the 
``January'' subquota, the regulations allow the General category 
fishery under this quota to continue until the subquota is reached or 
March 31, whichever comes first. The subquotas for each time period are 
as follows: 24.7 mt for January; 233.3 mt for June through August; 
123.7 mt for September; 60.7 mt for October through November; and 24.3 
mt for December. Any unused General category quota rolls forward within 
the fishing year, which coincides with the calendar year, from one time 
period to the next, and is available for use in subsequent time 
periods. To date for 2018, NMFS has published four actions that have 
adjusted the available 2018 Reserve category quota, leaving 18.5 mt 
currently available (83 FR 9232, March 5, 2018; 83 FR 17110, April 18, 
2018; 83 FR 38664, August 7, 2018; and 83 FR 47843, September 21, 
2018). In the Harpoon category, the base annual subquota was 38.6 mt 
but was adjusted to 68.6 mt with a transfer of 30 mt from the Reserve 
category in August 2018 (83 FR 38664, August 7, 2018). The category has 
had no landings since the August transfer.
    Although NMFS has published a proposed rule (83 FR 31517, July 6, 
2018) that would increase the baseline U.S. bluefin tuna quota from 
1,058.79 mt to 1,247.86 mt and accordingly increase the subquotas for 
2018 (including an expected increase in the General category October 
through November time period subquota from 60.7 mt to 72.2 mt, 
consistent with the annual bluefin tuna quota calculation process 
established in Sec.  635.27(a)), the final rule (the ``quota rule'') 
has not yet filed for public inspection with the Office of the Federal 
Register and is not yet effective.

[[Page 50858]]

Transfer of 55 mt to the General Category

    Under Sec.  635.27(a)(9), NMFS has the authority to transfer quota 
among fishing categories or subcategories, after considering regulatory 
determination criteria provided under Sec.  635.27(a)(8). NMFS has 
considered all of the relevant determination criteria and their 
applicability to this inseason quota transfer. These considerations 
include, but are not limited to, the following:
    Regarding the usefulness of information obtained from catches in 
the particular category for biological sampling and monitoring of the 
status of the stock (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(i)), biological samples 
collected from BFT landed by General category fishermen and provided by 
bluefin tuna dealers continue to provide valuable data for ongoing 
scientific studies of bluefin tuna age and growth, migration, and 
reproductive status. Additional opportunity to land bluefin tuna in the 
General category would support the continued collection of a broad 
range of data for these studies and for stock monitoring purposes.
    NMFS also considered the catches of the General category quota to 
date and the likelihood of closure of that segment of the fishery if no 
adjustment is made (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(ii) and (ix)). NMFS anticipates 
that the current October through November subquota of 60.7 mt (72.2 mt 
if the ICCAT quota rule is finalized as proposed) could be reached in a 
few days given the high daily landings rates during the end of the 
September fishery and that commercial-sized bluefin tuna remain 
available in the areas where General category permitted vessels operate 
at this time of year. Without a quota transfer, NMFS would have to 
close the General category fishery for the remainder of the October 
through November subquota period even earlier, while unused quota 
remains in the Harpoon and Reserve categories. Given the lag time 
between initiation of an inseason action and its implementation, 
however, this notification also closes the fishery, as NMFS anticipates 
the transferred quota will be caught quickly. Transferring 55 mt of 
quota (40 mt from the Harpoon category and 15 mt from the Reserve 
category) would result in 115.7 mt being available for the October 
through November 2018 subquota period (127.2 mt if the ICCAT quota rule 
is finalized as proposed), thus effectively providing limited 
additional opportunities to harvest the U.S. bluefin tuna quota while 
avoiding exceeding it.
    Regarding the projected ability of the vessels fishing under the 
particular category quota (here, the General category) to harvest the 
additional amount of BFT before the end of the fishing year (Sec.  
635.27(a)(8)(iii)), NMFS anticipates that all of the additional 55 mt 
of quota will be used by October 5, based on landings rates in the 
September 2018 fishery (as well as in the October through November 
fisheries in recent years), but this is also subject to weather 
conditions and bluefin tuna availability. In the unlikely event that 
any of this quota is unused by November 30, such quota will roll 
forward to the next subperiod within the calendar year (i.e., the 
October through November period), and NMFS anticipates that it would be 
used before the end of the fishing year.
    NMFS also considered the estimated amounts by which quotas for 
other gear categories of the fishery might be exceeded (Sec.  
635.27(a)(8)(iv)) and the ability to account for all 2018 landings and 
dead discards. In the last several years, total U.S. BFT landings have 
been below the available U.S. quota such that the United States has 
carried forward the maximum amount of underharvest allowed by ICCAT 
from one year to the next. There have been no landings in the Harpoon 
category since July 31, 2018, and in 2017, only 2.8 mt were landed in 
the Harpoon category after August 31 until the Harpoon category season 
ended November 15. Transferring 40 mt at this time to the Reserve 
category, leaves 2.5 mt (9.9 mt if the quota rule is finalized as 
proposed) a reasonable amount of quota for the small amount of activity 
we anticipate continuing for the remainder of the Harpoon category 
season, based on historic Harpoon category landings.
    NMFS will need to account for 2018 landings and dead discards 
within the adjusted U.S. quota, consistent with ICCAT recommendations, 
and anticipates having sufficient quota to do that, even with this 
transfer from the Harpoon and Reserve categories. Given the upcoming 
expected increases in available 2018 quota from the carryover of 2017 
underharvest, the ICCAT quota rule increase, and the resulting 
recalculation of 2018 available Purse Seine category quota and transfer 
to the Reserve category, NMFS anticipates that General category 
participants in all areas and time periods will have opportunities to 
harvest the General category quota in 2018, including the December time 
period.
    This transfer would be consistent with the current quotas, which 
were established and analyzed in the 2015 BFT quota final rule (80 FR 
52198, August 28, 2015), and with objectives of the 2006 Consolidated 
HMS FMP and amendments. (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(v) and (vi)). Another 
principal consideration is the objective of providing opportunities to 
harvest the full annual U.S. BFT quota without exceeding it based on 
the goals of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and Amendment 7, including 
to achieve optimum yield on a continuing basis and to optimize the 
ability of all permit categories to harvest their full BFT quota 
allocations (related to Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(x)). Specific to the General 
category, this includes providing opportunity equitably across all time 
periods.
    Based on the considerations above, NMFS is transferring 40 mt of 
Harpoon category quota and 15 mt of Reserve category quota to the 
General category for the October through November subquota period, 
resulting in a subquota of 115.7 mt for the General category October 
through November 2018 subquota period, 28.6 mt for the 2018 Harpoon 
category, and 3.5 mt for the Reserve category. (These amounts would be 
127.2 mt for the General category October through November 2018 
subquota period, 36 mt for the Harpoon category, and 142.9 mt for the 
Reserve category if the ICCAT quota rule is finalized as proposed.)

Closure of the October Through November 2018 General Category Fishery

    Based on landings rates in the September 2018 fishery and the 
October through November fisheries in recent years and anticipated 
fishing conditions, NMFS projects that the General category October 
through November subquota of 115.7 mt, as adjusted in this action, will 
be reached by October 5, 2018, and that the fishery should be closed to 
avoid exceedance of the adjusted quota. Through this action, NMFS is 
closing the General category bluefin tuna fishery effective 11:30 p.m., 
October 5, 2018, through November 30, 2018. Therefore, retaining, 
possessing, or landing large medium or giant BFT by persons aboard 
vessels permitted in the General and HMS Charter/Headboat categories 
must cease at 11:30 p.m. local time on October 5, 2018. This action 
applies to those vessels permitted in the General category, as well as 
to those HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a commercial sale 
endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT. For information 
regarding the HMS Charter/Headboat commercial sale endorsement, see the 
final rule that created a separate permit endorsement provision for the 
commercial sale of Atlantic HMS by HMS Charter/Headboat permit holders 
(82 FR 57543, December 6, 2017). The

[[Page 50859]]

intent of this closure is to prevent overharvest of the available 
General category October through November BFT subquota.
    The General category will reopen automatically on December 1, 2018, 
for the December 2018 subquota period at the default retention limit 
level of one fish. Currently, the adjusted General category subquota 
for the December 2018 period is 10 mt (see 82 FR 60680, December 22, 
2017), and this amount would be 14.6 mt if the quota rule is finalized 
as proposed.
    Fishermen may catch and release (or tag and release) BFT of all 
sizes, subject to the requirements of the catch-and-release and tag-
and-release programs at Sec.  635.26. All BFT that are released must be 
handled in a manner that will maximize their survival, and without 
removing the fish from the water, consistent with requirements at Sec.  
635.21(a)(1). For additional information on safe handling, see the 
``Careful Catch and Release'' brochure available at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/.

Monitoring and Reporting

    NMFS will continue to monitor the BFT fishery closely. Dealers are 
required to submit landing reports within 24 hours of a dealer 
receiving BFT. Late reporting by dealers compromises NMFS' ability to 
timely implement actions such as quota and retention limit adjustment, 
as well as closures, and may result in enforcement actions. 
Additionally, and separate from the dealer reporting requirement, 
General and HMS Charter/Headboat category vessel owners are required to 
report the catch of all BFT retained or discarded dead within 24 hours 
of the landing(s) or end of each trip, by accessing 
hmspermits.noaa.gov, using the HMS Catch Reporting app, or calling 
(888) 872-8862 (Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.).
    Depending on the level of fishing effort and catch rates of BFT, 
NMFS may determine that additional adjustments are necessary to ensure 
available subquotas are not exceeded or to enhance scientific data 
collection from, and fishing opportunities in, all geographic areas. If 
needed, subsequent adjustments will be published in the Federal 
Register. In addition, fishermen may call the Atlantic Tunas 
Information Line at (978) 281-9260, or access hmspermits.noaa.gov, for 
updates on quota monitoring and inseason adjustments.

Classification

    The Assistant Administrator for NMFS (AA) finds that it is 
impracticable and contrary to the public interest to provide prior 
notice of, and an opportunity for public comment on, this action for 
the following reasons:
    The regulations implementing the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 
amendments provide for inseason quota transfers and fishery closures to 
respond to the unpredictable nature of BFT availability on the fishing 
grounds, the migratory nature of this species, and the regional 
variations in the BFT fishery. These fisheries are currently underway 
and the adjusted subquota for the General category is projected to be 
reached shortly. Affording prior notice and opportunity for public 
comment to implement the quota transfer is impracticable and contrary 
to the public interest as such a delay would likely result in 
exceedance of the General category October through November fishery 
subquota or earlier closure of the fishery while fish are available on 
the fishing grounds. Subquota exceedance may result in the need to 
reduce quota for the General category later in the year and thus could 
affect later fishing opportunities. Therefore, the AA finds good cause 
under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to waive prior notice and the opportunity for 
public comment. For all of the above reasons, there also is good cause 
under 5 U.S.C. 553(d) to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness.
    This action is being taken under Sec. Sec.  635.27(a)(9) and 
635.28(a)(1), and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 1801 et seq.

    Dated: October 4, 2018.
Margo Schulze-Haugen,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-21991 Filed 10-4-18; 4:15 pm]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P